Moms Hating Moms: The Internalization of Mother War Rhetoric

Work status and mothering are culturally constructed as rigid binaries. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect on mothers of these polarized characterizations of motherhood and to assess the social support mothers perceive they receive for their mother identity. This study, based on interview data collected from 98 married mothers of preschool children, demonstrated that Mother War rhetoric is most extensively internalized by at-home mothers. The majority of mothers perceived a lack of cultural support for their mother role, though the impact of cultural Mother War rhetoric was buffered or exacerbated by mothers' social support systems. The lack of adequate support from other mothers, spouses, parents, and in-laws led mothers to binary constructions of worker–mother identity. This, in turn, led mothers to seek support within shared contexts, which further separated at-home and employed mother from each other and separated mothers from the support of their parents.     

A Review of Childrearing in African American Single Mother Families: The Relevance of a Coparenting Framework

Clinical research on African American single mother families has focused largely on mother-child dyads, with relatively less empirical attention to the roles of other adults or family members who often assist with childrearing. This narrow definition of “family” fails to take into account the extended family networks which often provide support for African American single mother families and the influence of these other adults on maternal parenting and youth adjustment. Our review integrates the literature on the role of extended family members, highlights the strengths and limitations of this work, and proposes the use of theory and methods from the coparenting literature to guide future study in this area. The relevance of the study of coparenting for family-based intervention efforts targeting African American youth from single mother homes is addressed.     

Women's Career Plans and Maternal Employment

Maternal employment, perceived maternal satisfaction and goodness of mothering, and sex role conceptions were studied as they relate to future life plans of college senior women. Twenty-five women in a working mother group and 26 in a nonworking mother group were administered the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Women, the Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire, the Inventory of Feminine Values, the Maternal Satisfaction and Maternal Goodness scales, and the Life Plan Questionnaire. Daughters of working mothers scored higher on career orientation ( p <.01, Life Plan Questionnaire) than did daughters of nonworking mothers. High perceived maternal satisfaction and maternal goodness correlated with low career orientation for the nonworking sample (the averaged r across variable pairs =.48). For the working sample, perceived maternal dissatisfaction with feminine role values correlated significantly with higher career orientation (r =.42), while the other satisfaction measure showed no relation to career orientation. Daughters of working mothers displayed broader sex role conceptualizations (p <0.01).     

The self-fulfilling influence of mother expectations on children's underage drinking

This research examined whether mothers' expectations about their children's drinking behavior influenced their children's future alcohol use through self-fulfilling prophecies. It also investigated whether children's self-esteem, family social class, or the valence of mother expectations moderated this process. Analyses of longitudinal data from 505 mother-child dyads yielded results consistent with a self-fulfilling prophecy. The inaccurate portion of mother expectations predicted children's future alcohol use after accounting for relevant control variables. Moderation analyses indicated that this effect was stronger among higher self-esteem children and when mother expectations were positively valenced (i.e., when mothers underestimated their children's future alcohol use). The findings are discussed in terms of parent-child relationship quality, peer influences, self theories, and out-group stereotypes.     

Inter-relationships among attachment to mother and father, self-esteem, and career indecision

This study investigated the mediating role of adolescents’ global self-esteem, based on the relationship between adolescents’ mother or father attachment and their career indecision; as well as the mediating role of adolescents’ career indecision on the relationship between mother or father attachment and self-esteem. Two hundred and forty-one adolescents completed a self-report questionnaire that measured the difficulty in making decisions about their future academic and vocational careers, their global self-esteem, and their attachment to their parents. Results showed that the more adolescents felt attached to their mother and father the easier it was for them to make career decisions. The self-esteem mediation hypothesis is supported as a function of parent and adolescent gender. Similarly, the mediating role of career indecision is confirmed and depends on the gender of both parents and adolescents. Interpersonal context, identity development, adolescent career development and the relationship between them are discussed.     

Identity maintenance in the affectively distant patient

Patients who are affectively distant, in that they appear to have little conscious emotional investment in the analyst, have been described increasingly in the psychoanalytic literature of the last twenty years. Typically, they have been understood either from a developmental point of view as defensively struggling against wishes for symbiotic union or, on the Kleinian model, as having unconscious fantasies of bodily fusion with the mother that, upon separation from her, result in annihilation anxiety that generates autistic defenses. Of special importance is the work of Heinz Lichtenstein, who stresses early identity maintenance and the role of mirroring experiences with the mother in the development of an "identity theme." This concept is used here as a symbiotic precursor of ego identity that ties the self to a particular mother. It is this primitive form of identity that can occasion regressive self-definition in the transference of the affectively distant patient. Two cases are presented that illustrate dynamics and transference dispositions occurring in the psychoanalysis of these patients. The discussion focuses on the role of the patient's catastrophic fear of acceptance, as well as on the consequent need for self-protective measures. It is argued that careful and consistent analysis of these conflicted areas of these patients' transference leads toward greater integration of their identity and personality.     

Token transfer between mother and offspring chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): mother–offspring interaction in a competitive situation

Chimpanzees can flexibly use tokens in cognitive tasks, but it is still unknown if they can share and/or compete over tokens as they do for food. This study aimed to evaluate the interactions spontaneously occurring between mother and offspring chimpanzees when tokens exchangeable for food were provided. Forty tokens were scattered on the floor in an experimental playroom. Three mother and offspring chimpanzee pairs were tested. Each token was exchangeable for a piece of food in a vending machine installed on the wall of the playroom. In the beginning of the study, both mother and offspring took tokens and exchanged them for pieces of food independently. Later, two offspring started to take more tokens than their mothers. At that time, the offspring whimpered or cried more often than during earlier sessions. This behavior compelled the mothers to abstain from taking tokens. The mothers sometimes shared their tokens with their offspring, or were tolerant of their offspring taking their tokens from their hand. For one pair, the offspring sometimes shared tokens with her mother when her mother begged for the tokens. These results suggest that chimpanzees’ cognitive abilities enable them not only to use tokens, but also to compete for tokens, as they do for food. The results also suggest that token sharing between mother and offspring may be bidirectional and that transfer of tokens mainly occurs as a result of begging, although on some occasion offspring were able to obtain a token directly from his/her mother through tolerated scrounging.     

Être mère dans la famille recomposée : défis de la conciliation des rôles de belle-mère et de mère biologique

This study examines issues related to occupying both the role of stepmother and biological mother in a stepfamily. A sample of twelve participants was interviewed. The central theme of the interviews concerned the psychological state of the women as they tried to reconcile their biological maternity with their role as a stepmother. A qualitative analysis of the interviews enabled us to propose three themes emerging from their experience: a) a comparison of their different parental roles in the stepfamily; b) the issues related to managing stepfamily dynamics; c) the challenges linked to the development of a family identity.     

Parental object representations,attachment to God,and recovery among individuals with psychosis

This study explored the relationships between object representations of mother and father and recovery among outpatients with psychotic disorders, and examined the role of attachment to God in moderating those relationships. A total of 46 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder participated. Benevolent representations of mother and father were associated with recovery whereas punitive representations were negatively associated with recovery. Secure attachment to God amplified the association between benevolent representations of father and recovery. Secure attachment to God was found to buffer the relationship between mild-to-moderate punitive parental representations and recovery; however, this relationship was not evident for those with the most punitive parental representations. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.     

The memory remains: long-term vocal recognition in Australian sea lions

The ability to recognize other individuals plays an important role in mediating social interactions. As longitudinal studies are challenging, there is only limited evidence of long-term memory of individuals and concepts in mammals. We examined the ability of six wild Australian sea lions to discriminate between the voice of their mother and another adult female, both while they were dependent on their mother and when they were independent, 2 years after weaning. Here, we show that even after a long period of independence, juveniles retain the ability to identify their mother’s voice. Both when dependent and independent, animals showed stronger responses to maternal calls than to the calls of another female. This demonstration of recognition provides rare evidence of the long-term memory capabilities of wild mammals.     

Parental capacities for triadic relationships during pregnancy: Early predictors of children's behavioral and representational functioning at preschool age

This study examines associations between parental capacities for triadic (mother–father–child) relationships, assessed prenatally, and the representational and behavioral functioning of their offspring at preschool age. Thirty‐eight parental couples were given an intensive psychodynamic interview during their first pregnancy to assess how they anticipated their future parenthood and their relationships as threesomes (mother–father–child). The capacity for triadic relationships (“triadic capacity”) was defined as the capacity of fathers and mothers to anticipate their family relationships without excluding either themselves or their partners from the relationship with the infant. Four years later, the representational and behavioral functioning of their children were assessed in depth using child narrative interviews and parental behavior ratings. The coherence of the children's narratives and the number of positive themes they expressed were significantly negatively correlated with the number of behavioral problems. In the longitudinal analyses, there were significant positive correlations between the parental triadic capacities and the coherence/number of positive themes in the children's narratives whereas parental triadic capacities showed a significant negative correlation with the number of the children's externalizing problems. The significance of triadic relational family processes for the development of children's representational world and behavioral functioning is discussed. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Disclosure of father-child sexual abuse: Dilemmas for families and therapists

Following disclosure of father-child sexual abuse, family members are faced with significant dilemmas related to the abuse disclosure and to the future of familial relationships. The resolution of these dilemmas has an impact on the resulting family structure as well as the therapist's stance, the therapeutic process, and therapeutic goals. This paper presents clinical issues that arise in relation to father/perpetrator and mother responses to the dilemmas they face following their child's disclosure of abuse. Clinical case examples are used to illustrate several resolutions that families reach following disclosure of abuse. The cases illustrate the systemic functioning of families and the impact that family members' decisions have on the therapeutic process.This paper was sponsored in part by a grant from the U. S. Department of the Navy. Names of clients were changed by the author to protect their identities.     

Symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder in first‐time expectant women: Relations with parenting cognitions and behaviors

The relationship between maternal symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and parenting cognitions and behaviors was studied in 86 first‐time expectant women. Women high on ADHD symptoms were less likely to be married, less likely to have obtained at least some university education, and less likely to report that they wanted to get pregnant at the time they became pregnant. As predicted, ADHD symptoms were positively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and predicted less positive prenatal expectations regarding the infant and the future maternal role and lower maternal self‐efficacy. Contrary to predictions, ADHD did not predict any incremental variance in maternal stressful life events or social support. Symptoms of ADHD were negatively correlated with attendance at recommended prenatal checkups, but were unrelated to other behaviors during pregnancy. Findings suggest that even prior to any contact with their infant, women with ADHD symptoms have maladaptive cognitions regarding their expectations of motherhood and parenting abilities. As a result, they may benefit from early interventions that focus on attenuating the potential negative effects that these maladaptive cognitions might have on the mother‐infant relationship and later developmental outcomes for their children.     

Understanding alexithymia within a psychoanalytical framework

The object of this paper is to provide a metapsychological definition of alexithymia as described in 1967 in terms of operational thinking and negative hallucination. This is a familiar and established concept in the fields of psychopathology, psychology, and of clinical and psychosomatic medicine. From a psychoanalytic and psychosomatic point of view, the term is conceptually close to P. Marty's “operative thinking”, as described in 1963, even though we know they do not belong to the same epistemological field: on one hand Neuroscience, Psychiatry and the objectalization of the symptom at different levels, and on the other, as regards mechanical functioning, a psychoanalytic clinical approach within the dynamics of the relationship between transference and counter‐transference. The present authors consider that Freudian metapsychology, as now complexified by Andrè Green, allows for a metapsychological approach to alexithymia insofar as it relates to Marty's operative thinking. Thus does Green’s conceptualization of the mother’s negative hallucination, of negative introjection, of a psychically ‘dead (and insecure) mother’, now provide us with the opportunity to describe, in metapsychological terms, the genesis of this particular mode of psychical functioning. Given the mother’s negative hallucination produces a host structure as a background to negativity that will fit future object representations, we will assume that in the case of … future operational or alexithymic …?, this negative hallucination will pathologically and defensively involve the endo‐psychic perception of affect.     

Rehousing periadolescent male guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) apart from their mothers for 24 hours increases maternally directed sexual behavior and plasma testosterone

Periadolescent male guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) housed continuously with their mother displayed little or no sexual behavior when they were tested with her in a novel environment. However, if males were rehoused without their mother for 24 hr before testing, they frequently directed courtship and sexual behavior toward her. This effect occurred whether the mother was isolated or not during the rehousing period. In addition, rehousing without the mother produced a significant rise in the plasma testosterone levels of the males. It appears that continuous housing with the mother inhibits sexual and courtship behavior directed toward her, as well as gonadal activity, in periadolescent male guinea pigs. These effects may serve to prevent inbreeding.     

The stigma of having a parent with mental illness: Genetic attributions and associative stigma

Children often report associative stigma because they are ‘contaminated’ by association with a parent who has a mental illness. An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the role of genetic attributions in the aetiology of associative stigma. The first hypothesis was that genetic attributions would predict associative stigma over and above the contribution of biochemical and stressful‐event attributions, while the second hypothesis was that the relationship between genetic attributions and associative stigma would be mediated by the perceived likelihood that children would develop the same disorder as their parents. Two‐hundred‐and‐two individuals were asked to read a hypothetical scenario describing a teenage girl whose mother had been diagnosed with either schizophrenia or depression. Both hypotheses were supported. The findings of the study have implications for a number of professions working in the community such as teachers and psychologists. Additional avenues for future research are also explored.     

外国留学生对汉语句子中补语认知的实验研究

采用语言实验方法,探索外国留学生的母语和汉语输入在习得中作用问题。选择了母语为英语、日语和韩语,汉语水平为初等的留学生为被试。研究发现,母语在习得汉语的前期有重要作用。母语相关语言规则与汉语补语差别最大的留学生,他们对汉语补语不同水平间差别反应的敏感性最高;差别最小的,敏感性最低;介于其间,则敏感性为中等。此外,汉语输入对习得也有作用,其难易影响习得的效果。     

Mary and femininity: A psychological critique

This essay uses Freud to interpret the symbolism and theology of Mary in modern Catholicism. In her role as the mother of believers, Mary functions to place the Christian in the position of a child who receives illusory gratification from the mother. In her role as model for Christians to emulate, Mary functions to place the Christian in the position of receptivity and dependence which Freud associated with femininity. Reinterpreting Freud from a feminist perspective, I suggest that the kind of femininity Mary represents serves to perpetuate patriachal social structures and to inhibit full psychological maturity.